11 Critical theories of education

Sociology of Education
Unit 11
What critical theories of education have developed?
Learning targets:
 Neither Marxism or Functionalism offer good explanation of the education system.
 Critical theorists have adapted Marxist ideas and developed them to explain
educational inequality.
 Neo-Marxists suggest that boys reject school for reasons of their own
 Feminists see girls as victims of the education system
Key questions
(AO1) What are critical theories?
(AO1) What do subcultural theories and feminists say about education?
(AO2) What strengths and weaknesses are there to subcultural theories?
(AO2) What strengths and weaknesses are there to feminist views of education?
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Summary of key points
Functionalists have a view of education that seems optimistic and unrealistic to many sociologists. Marxists
view the education system as being a form of mind control. Neither picture is entirely satisfactory.
Sociologists have therefore looked at other ways of explaining how education works. These other theories
are known as critical theories because they criticise society and attempt to change society itself and to
examine how people look at the world.
When studying education, the point is that pupils respond to their education in different ways. Some
groups accept teachers' rules and authority unquestioningly, whilst others spend most of their time
breaking the rules and avoiding work.
In the 1970s, the media gave a great deal of attention to inner-city schools and to the misbehaviour of their
pupils. This motivated sociologists such as Paul Willis to look into the reasons for the development of these
working class groups of 'undisciplined' school pupils, or anti-school subcultures. Paul Willis's study entitled
'Learning to Labour' is an important Neo-Marxist approach on education. He began with a Marxist
perspective, but went on to criticise Marxist viewpoints as being too negative.
Willis tried to understand the experience of being in school from the children's perspective. He soon
discovered that schools were not as successful as Bowles and Gintis thought in terms of producing a docile
and compliant workforce.
The school studied by Willis was on a working class housing estate. The main focus of his study was 12
working class boys who he shadowed for their last 18 months in school and in their first few months in
work. Willis referred to the boys as 'lads'.
He claimed that they had their own anti-school culture which was opposed to the common values of the
school. He claimed that boys developed an anti-school culture because school was irrelevant. His material
is now very dated, but it has been influential over the years.
Anti-school culture
Boys felt that they were above teachers and other pupils who conformed. They placed little or no value on
academic work, and they had no interest in gaining qualifications. One of their objectives was to miss
lessons or do as little work as possible when they did attend. School equated to boredom, the adult world
was far more exciting. Means of identifying with the adult world were smoking, drinking and not wearing
school uniform.
Boys were very keen to leave school and looked forward to having full-time work. They were prepared to
take any job as long as it was male manual work. Any manual work was acceptable. They saw little benefit
in studying for years in order to have a job requiring mental ability. There was no money in that and they
would lose their independence.
Willis believes that education reproduces the type of workforce required by capitalism, but not
intentionally. Boys in school are not forced to behave in the way that they do, nor are they forced to look
for manual work; rather it is they in their subculture who choose that type of work. They learn from their
fathers, brothers and others in the community. The attraction is the adult male world.
Willis concludes that anti-school culture is neither good nor bad for capitalism. The boys realise that
capitalist society is not meritocratic. They understand that there are no means for them to improve their
lives on their own and they must work together to improve the situation of the working class, both in
school and at work. They know that there are no jobs available locally and that studying at school will not
prepare them for work. They understand the importance of manual work, but they do not know to what
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extent capitalism has succeeded in taking advantage of them.
Willis demonstrates therefore, that voluntary abstention from school prepares one section of the
workforce for their future role. The force of work reproduces itself unintentionally and indirectly in school.
Critiquing Willis
David Blackledge and Barry Hunt made a number of criticisms of Willis's work. They suggested that Willis's
sample was insufficient. He concentrated on 12 pupils, all males who were not typical of the pupils in the
school he studied. Therefore, this study cannot be used as a general picture of working class children and
education.
Willis disregarded the broad variety of subcultures in the school. Many of the pupils were in the middle,
between both extremes of wholly conforming and the other of being wholly committed to the anti-school
culture.
Willis misinterpreted some of the evidence, for example that some boys copied their fathers' attitude
towards work. Some of the fathers were very proud of their work and their good relationship with the
managers, whilst their sons rejected everyone who did not belong to their own little world.
Twenty years later, a similar study was undertaken in the West Midlands by Mairtin Mac an Ghaill (1994).
Some of the young working-class boys - 'the macho lads' - were similar to Willis's boys. They rejected
teachers' authority and school values.
However, when Mac an Ghaill conducted his research, it was a period of high unemployment when a
number of the traditional low-skill working-class jobs were disappearing. Because of this, the 'rebellious'
behaviour of the boys was not so suitable - the jobs for them were disappearing. Often, a period in a youth
training scheme was followed by unemployment, and this became the norm for a number of working-class
boys.
Post modernists
Post-modernists argue that the age that we are living in is different from any other period because so many
changes are occurring all the time, and this of course also affects and influences the world of education.
There are differences and concerns because of the number of languages that exist, the number of ethnic
groups that co-exist in towns and cities and changes in working patterns. All of these influence education.
Society has also changed. By now there are a number of single-parent families, same-sex couples are
accepted and religion has to appeal to a multicultural society. To enforce one common curriculum on
everyone is going to lead to some problems.
Post-modernists also argue that they are constantly being 'watched' in today's society. Not only because of
CCTV cameras but also because of the increase in maintaining records of everything on paper and setting
targets in order to monitor people in schools and in jobs.
Moore and Hickox (1994) stated that it is impossible to provide a curriculum that suits everyone, either a
national or vocational curriculum, because of the social changes that are taking place in society.
Because of the increase in monitoring also, record keeping and setting targets, pupils suffer as they
constantly have to sit tests and examinations. This causes strain and concern for some.
Feminist criticisms of education
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Feminists argue that education reinforces 'patriarchy'. It must be borne in mind that there are different
groups of feminists, but they all study the role of education as a secondary socialisation agent. They
emphasise patterns of inequality and show how patriarchy is conveyed culturally and is reproduced
through education. Sylvia Walby (1999) mentions the 'triple system' of oppression where ethnicity and
class complicate the situation for women, and that it is necessary to look at patriarchy, capitalism and
racism together.
Liberal feminists argue that changes in education and equal opportunities policies are necessary in order to
be rid of patriarchy, so the introduction of the National Curriculum does so by ensuring both sexes study
the same subjects in school.
Marxist feminists argue that the role of women in society is decided by the economy's needs. They see the
capitalist system at fault for the socialization of women to supporting men in the home and in the
workplace. Education reinforces these ideas.
Black feminists argue that being female and black is different from being female and white. These
experiences can be seen in schools and colleges and the ways in which teachers and books treat the
students differently.
Radical feminists argue that the only way to see an end to patriarchy is when women are freed from the
negative (and aggressive) influence of men over women - both physically and emotionally. The classroom
and the playground are seen as sources of this type of aggression.
Post-feminists argue that the word 'woman' does not have only one meaning but several. A woman can be
black, white, lesbian, working-class or middle class. This is the post-modern idea that there is not one single
theory or concept that explains everything.
Heaton and Lawson (1996) refer to the hidden curriculum discussed by feminists. This occurs in several
ways - literature that portrays women as being dependent on men - Kelly (1987) states that women are
'invisible' in science subjects. A number of women feel uncomfortable studying some subjects. Culley
(1986) stated that in ICT lessons boys take over and exclude girls. In a number of cases the teachers were
not seen intervening.
Heaton and Lawson argue that some teachers still have sexist ideas with regards to some tasks, e.g. boys
moving furniture and girls cleaning. A number of feminists argue that what is taught in schools still creates
gender inequality despite the National Curriculum. Sport tends to concentrate more on boys' successes and
the choice of 'A' levels in some subjects still tends towards traditional patterns of gender segregation.
Although there are more women teachers in England and Wales, in schools and colleges there are more
men in the senior management posts. And there is a shortage of Black female teachers. Feminists state that
all this gives the misconception that positions of power are held by men.
Feminists view education as socialisation agent for gender roles, although different aspects are dealt with
by different feminists. The education system reinforces the ideology that men are in authority and that the
hidden curriculum contributes towards it. What must be remembered, of course, is that girls generally do
much better than boys in many areas of education. Feminist views of women as the victims of the
education system may need to be challenged in the light of female achievements.
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What should you have in your folder of notes on this topic? (AO1)
Definitions of the key concepts
Critical theory
Neo-Marxism
Anti-school culture
Feminism
Post modernism
Triple system of oppression
Lad culture
Hidden curriculum
Independent study
Compulsory
 Notes from a textbook on feminism and neo Marxism
 Notes on each of the writers in these notes, summarised to 50 words or fewer.
 An evaluation of Willis's work
 An evaluation of Feminist views of education that refers back to the work that you did on
gender and educational attainment.
Extension work
 Write or plan a short essay to the title:
Education does more harm than good to society. Discuss
 Observe a group of anti-school subculture students – do they really reject school?
 Use a textbook or the internet to make notes on Carolyn Jackson’s Lads and Ladettes in
school
 Use a textbook to make notes on Paul Willis Learning to Labour
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Useful websites and sources of information (AO1):
You should use the website of the NgfL Cymru and look at the ebook to develop your notes
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/eng/sociology-as-ebook
There is an online activity on Paul Willis's work that you can print out:
http://www.educationforum.co.uk/sociology_2/willis.htm
Find out more about feminisms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism
Anti-school subculture explained in one slide print outs
http://www.slideshare.net/sociologytwynham/anti-school-subculture-presentation
http://www.slideshare.net/sociologytwynham/anti-school-subcultures2-
presentation?src=related_normal&rel=874533
Anti-school subculture linked to gender achievement
http://juni.osfc.ac.uk/Extension/level_3_extension/sociology/lesson_3/index.asp
An internet essay on delinquency and anti-school subcultures
http://www.timothyjpmason.com/WebPages/Deviance/Deviance6.htm
An interactivity can be completed and printed out from this webpage#
http://www.educationforum.co.uk/sociology_2/boy.htm
Mind maps covering writers, topics and key concepts can be downloaded from
http://www.sociology.org.uk/c4_4.pdf
Find out more about Paul Willis’s Learning to Labour
http://onlineclassroom.tv/sociology/catalogue/classic_collection/paul_willis_-_learning_to_labour
http://www.educationforum.co.uk/sociology_2/willis.htm
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AO1 Knowledge and understanding
What is a critical theory?
What were the aims of Paul Willis’s study?
What did Paul Willis conclude?
What criticisms have been made of Willis’s methods?
What did Mac an Ghaill discover when he reproduced the work of Willis?
What do postmodernists say about the society we live in?
What impact do Moore and Hickox say that recording keeping and targets has had on children?
How have feminists criticised schools and education?
What is the triple system of oppression?
Why can feminist views of education be challenged?
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Discussion and thinking questions
How true is this image of the experience of school for
most children?
What do you learn about Japanese
culture and schools from this image of
school children?
What kind of influence do teachers and schools
have over the behaviour of children?
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